Blue collar federal workers would receive the same pay raise
as their salaried counterparts under the omnibus budget bill currently before Congress.

The three-year pay freeze for salaried federal workers ended Jan. 1
when the president approved a 1 percent pay hike. Hourly workers were not
included in that raise, however, prompting Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Penn. to
introduce the "Support the Wage Grade Employee Parity Act," to expand the raise
to non-salaried employees.

Monday night's spending bill added employees paid
under the Federal Wage System to the raise, a move that was met with praise from employee unions.

"With this language in place, more than 200,000 employees at
our military bases, veterans' hospitals, federal prisons and other worksites
now will receive the modest pay raise being given to all other federal
workers," American Federation of Government Employees National President J.
David Cox Sr. said.

"Congress clearly recognizes the importance of ensuring pay
parity for all federal employees, regardless of which pay system they fall
into, and I am glad that this inequality was corrected."

The government employs hourly workers in more than 40
agencies, with about 70 percent of those at the Department of Defense.
According to the Washington Post, their average pay for 2013 was $53,043
compared to $74,709 for salaried employees.